Sammi getting ready for GYM!!

Are you ready? YOU BET!! Right Kary????

Brothers!!

Here is me and William before we head out to drop Sammi off and go for a run. The other pictures are of the neighborhood I run in and also, our house.

Yesterday, I spent the day baking bread. It turned out really good. I made four loaves, 2 cinnamon, 2 white. I even frosted one of the cinnamon - yummy! Charles was so happy when he came home and the house was filled with the smell of fresh bread. It was fun to make. I do love to make bread, it just has to be a planned thing, it takes a lot of the day. The secret to great bread - lots of butter on the dough! Butter makes everything better, except maybe your health :-).

I have been loving our new schedule. I have dinner ready every night when Charles gets home from work and we sit down as a family at the dinner table and eat together - how great is that!! We have not ever been able to do that before. We always just had Sundays together. This kind of life, I could get use to! I love having him home at 5:30!! WOW!

Charles is loving the extra time to do whatever he wants - no studying! He has been refinishing our dining room table. It was in sorry shape and now he has sanded it down and is putting a nice shiny coating on it. It looks SO much better. I am excited to have it looking nice and not water stained. : )

Sammi is loving first grade so far. She has gym tomorrow so we had to get gym shoes. Sammi is so funny. I watch her (at a distance) when I drop her off at school. Yesterday, she sat down next to a girl and said, " It is going to be a great day of first grade isn't it?" She is so excited about it. It is funny to watch all the children running around - just little people. One thing that is sad is there are these huge vans that come and line up at the school. They drop off kids from daycare to school and then they come and pick them back up after school for daycare. It makes me so sad. Also, Sammi is one of three kids that brings her lunch to school. Everyone else buys their lunch. I am so glad I have the time to make her lunch. Everyday I write a little note with a special picture for her and I remind her that I love her and to choose the right. She loves them. I just want to remind her that her mommy is thinking about her. I love Sammi, she is so fun to watch grow.

I walk Sammi to and from school, it is not too far away. After I take her to school I then go for a walk/run (I have to work back into running, it has been awhile!) Then I go back home and spend my day time with Daniel and William. It is great - much quieter without Sam around. She is kind of the ring-leader around here. Daniel is pretty mellow by himself, he only turns into the Hulk when provoked by Sam. I am also trying to make sure Daniel feels loved and special because Sammi gets so much attention right now for school (new supplies, shoes, etc,) He is doing great.

We came up with a new reading system in our home. I had been doing the bulk of the reading to the kids, we read the scriptures together every night. Now, we read scriptures and say nighttime prayers together, then Charles and I read to Sam or Dan and then switch the next night. That way they get one-on-one with both parents, and their own level of reading, and they LOVE it! They also go to sleep much faster after a good book and some individual attention. I am so glad Charles is here to do that! It is amazing!

That is all for now. It is a beautiful day here. It is amazing the temperature ranges from 50 in the morning to 95 at night! It takes some getting use to!

Lots of love,
Mari

Here is William ready to walk Sammi to school

Daniel found a great way to lounge in the hammock

My baby loves his baby : )

Just hanging out in the backyard. . .

Prayers and Blessings. . .

This has been a weekend full of prayers and blessings. It started with Daniel. He was not feeling well and he was pretty hot. So I gave him some tylenol and he seemed better. Then during the night he woke up and came into our room. He was shaking and really, really hot - 104! So, I held him gave him more tylenol and then we decided he needed a blessing. So Charles gave him a blessing that he would heal by morning and that he would be able to rest. Well, without too many details - that is what happened. He slept on the floor in our room and by morning he woke up and was completely healed and ready to play. I was so grateful. It is always scary when they are feverish.

Then on Saturday we were taking a drive out of town. William had been a bit cranky, and has been for awhile. While we were in the car on the way back he started to cry, and when I say cry, I mean CRY!! He had taken it to the next level. Anyhow, there was nothing that would comfort him, nothing I could do, and we had nowhere to pull over. So, after about 15 minutes of crying and obvious there was not stopping him, I told the kids we needed to pray for him. At first I was not so sure about it. What if he would not stop crying even after a prayer? What would the kids think? As I put my doubt aside, I decided we NEEDED to pray for him. So as Charles kept driving I turned around as best as I could and I said a mothers pray. I prayed that he would be comforted and that what ever was hurting him would cease and that he could be at peace. I finished the prayer and not moments later after constant unstoppable crying, he took a deep breath and stopped crying and he fell asleep. Again, I was SO grateful!!

Last night Sammi had her before school blessing. It was a very sweet experience. It was mentioned that she will find many good friends. It was sweet to watch her sit in her chair and listen so carefully. She is so excited about school. Today is her first day of first grade! I actually just dropped her off. Her teacher seems nice. She was sitting in between two girls too so she was excited. I sure love my Sammi. It was hard to look back and shut the classroom door behind me. She looked happy. I know she will love it. : )

I am so grateful that we have a Heavenly Father who actually is literally watching over us. I am so grateful that you can pray anytime for anything and He will hear you. I feel such gratitude for His goodness and love.

Lots of love,

Mari

My New Favorite Cookie!!

Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Frosting

Peanut Butter Cookies:

1/2 cup of butter
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup of peanut butter
1 egg
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 cups of flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix all together and form medium size balls. Use a fork and press down the cookies (both directions). Heat oven to 350 and bake cookies for 10 minutes, remove, and let cool on the pan (the secret to ALL good cookies).

These cookies can stand on their own and are very yummy. With chocolate frosting - they are dangerous!!

"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa (any cocoa works)
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

WARNING: Do NOT eat without MILK!!!

This is a totally awesome recipe. Normally, I am not impressed with peanut butter cookies. I am picky about my cookie textures. They have to be soft, I do not like crunchy cookies. I guarantee you will not find these cookies on any diet list. They are totally bad for you!! Go run an extra mile and enjoy !! : )

lots-o-love

Mari

Question:

What is your favorite quote, and why? (not scripture - that will be later)

Please add your comments . . . I love them!!! : )

I will add mine later.

-Mari

The kids doing their thing - Playing!

Baby Stephen

I LOVE being a Mother!

I was reading Mindy's comments and she mentioned the word "love" over and over. As I read her comments I realized that is what Motherhood is all about - it is truly all about LOVE! Thanks for your comments!

I too love being a Mother. I feel very passionate about being a Mother and I feel a strong desire to help other mothers/women feel the true importance of the great role of a mother. I have found in my few short years of motherhood that many around me are not happy moms. Being a mother can be very hard. It requires selflessness. In a world full of selfishness it is hard to give up what you want now for a greater future good, like caring for your children. If I hear mothers complain about their children and the troubles of being a mother, it can almost always be traced back to selfishness. Now, I do not believe you should wake up in the morning and before doing anything else you bow down to your children and say, " what is thy bidding my masters?" NO way! I do however believe we should wake up in the morning and before anything else ask Heavenly Father what He would have us do. He wants us to love our children, take care of them, teach them, guide them, help them to love Him and serve Him. That requires effort, time, sacrifice, and above all - LOVE! If we can find that love for our children, it will be much easier to want to take care of them. There is a huge difference between being around your children and being with your children. I could exist the whole day with my children running around me. It takes effort to be with them, look them in the eye, talk to them, love them. That effort, I believe, will make ALL the difference!

President Hinckley said:

In this age when more and more women are turning to daily work, how tremendous it is once in a while to just stop and recognize that the greatest job that any woman will ever do will be in nurturing and teaching and living and encouraging and rearing her children in righteousness and truth. There is no other thing that will compare with that, regardless of what she does. I hope that the women of the Church will not slight their greatest responsibility in favor of a lessor responsibility. To the mothers of this Church, as the years pass you will become increasingly grateful for that which you did in molding the love of your children in the direction of righteousness and goodness and integrity and faith. (May 1995)

Most of you and your associates who are married are now employed outside the home. That is a statistical fact. You feel you must do this if you are to provide a home, music lessons, and other rather costly and consuming things. Again, I do not criticize you. I wish it were otherwise. I wish every mother could be at home. I recognize that this is not possible. But I warn against too fancy a home with too large a mortgage, perhaps with a boat and such costly things in the driveway. I simply say that there is nothing in all this world which will bring you greater satisfaction, as the years pass ever so quickly, than seeing your children grow in faith, confidence, freedom from the enslaving elements around us. You will be a very important part of what happens to them. None can adequately substitute for you as mothers. Weigh your options carefully. Be careful, lest you find yourself trading your birthright for a mess of pottage. ( May 1997)

I love the Prophet! If you notice these comments were made over 10 years ago. How much more applicable are they today?

I spent my first years as a mother in an apartment building in Alaska. My view out the back window was of a fence caving in on me. It was often dark and cold and snowy. I could not go in the neighborhood by myself - it was too scary. We were also without a car and we would have to ask for rides from good people (very humbling). Charles spent endless hours studying at the school and so I was left alone for much of the time with my children. We were preparing for a future day. Trying to do what the prophet asked of us - to get an education and have a family. Those days were hard. They really were. I have heard somewhere that it was never promised to be easy, but it was promised to be worth it. Looking back now, it was worth it - no question. Anyhow, back then in Alaska, I spent much of my time reading. I read the words of the Prophets, studied the scriptures, and I prayed a lot. I spent a lot of my time studying the importance of the role of Mother and Father and our responsibilities as parents. I solidified my testimony of the importance of Mothers and their great role in the world. I lit a fire inside of me in regards to protecting and strengthening family. I am so grateful for those times. Even those times which seemed somewhat dark and scary - with the future unknown and uncertain. Passing through those times have made everything since then seem so bright and glorious!

I love being a Mother. It is not an easy job. It is a job that is so worth it. It is a job that is necessary. If all the mothers in the world were to give up and throw in the towel - the world would go the heck in a hand-basket. I believe good strong families are the only thing that could save the world. Perhaps that is why the Family Proclamation is such a great, important revelation for this generation.

I love my family. I love Charles for supporting me as a mother. Without his support I know I would be much weaker. I treasure him and his love for me. I love my children. They bring me such joy and excitement. I express my gratitude for them each day to my Heavenly Father. I know he trusts me to take care of them and to teach them of Him. I do my best. That is what God wants from us, our very best.

Hooray for MOTHERS!!!! Hooray for FAMILY!!!!

-Mari : )

Questions. . .

I love to find out how people feel/think. It is something that I have always enjoyed. I feel deeply about things and sometimes (as many of you may know) I get a little excited about things that I am passionate about. I am going to start asking some random questions every now and then. If you would comment and add your thoughts - I would LOVE it!!!

My question today is: How do you feel about Motherhood??
(You do not have to be a mother to answer this question!)

I will respond later as well . . . :-)

I am just trying out some new things here. I wanted to clean it up a bit. Hope you like it!

this picture is framed in the kids bathroom :-)

This is one of my creations that I like to do on Print Shop - I love Print Shop!! I have this picture framed and in my bathroom. I love the quote, I found it very powerful and true! (click on it to make it larger)

Mari

We spent the day on Saturday getting lots of things in order. First we headed out the door to hit the garage sales - we love to do that. We got out a little late (9am), you really want to be out before 8am to get the good stuff, like furniture. Anyhow, I had a special moment as I was sitting in the car watching Charles from across the street at one of the sales. He had in his hand a scrabble game. He opened it and was counting all the letters to make sure they were all there. I started to cry. I thought, how awesome is he? It was a special moment that I cannot really explain, I just had such gratitude in my heart for him and all that he does. He is not above counting scrabble pieces at a garage sale. I love him so much. Anyhow, the letters were all there so we got the game for 2 dollars. We continued driving around to different sales, we were mostly looking for dressers for our clothes and some end tables. We did not find either of those. At one of the sales a lady handed me a flier for this kid-o-rama sale at a church downtown. We decided to go for it. We found one of the things I was looking for, a saucer chair thing ($5.00) for William. I let Sammi and Daniel pick out a toy and Sammi found a princess castle block set for $1.00, Daniel could not find anything. I kept telling him he could pick something but he did not see what he wanted. We also found a few clothed items for William. We scored some good deals. I love that!

So, Daniel never found a toy to pick. He was, of course, a little sad. We told him we would find something for him. We went home for a pit-stop and Sammi was playing with her princess thing and she dropped the Cinderalla block behind the oven. I looked behind the oven, I could see it, but it looked pretty stuck. I pulled out my "mom skills" and bent a metal hanger to try and get it. I could not reach it. So, I took the drawer out that was under the oven. It was SO funny, when I moved the drawer I found all sorts of things, junk mostly. Papers, food, decorations, necklaces, and to Daniel's surprise and joy - toy cars! Good ones too. So, I found his prize! He was so excited! What was really funny was I found a hanger underneath the oven - someone had tried to get the cars out with a hanger, but did not think to take the drawer out! Silly! So I realized that sometimes things happen, not so pleasant things, like dropping a princess toy behind the oven. But because that happened something good came of it, I found Daniel a prize! I also was able to get the princess toy out with a little strength and grunting. : ) Anyhow, silly story - that is my life and how I think! Sometimes events that may seem painful or difficult are often turned into something for our good, something we could have never learned or found without going through those experiences. : )

We finally found a lawn mower! We got it for a good deal off of craigslist. Charles is so happy to have one, he loves to mow the lawn and clean up the yard. It looks much better now!

We also found a washer and dryer. We broke down and got one from Costco. After our leaking fiasco we decided we should probably just get a new one - with a warranty. You never know what you are gonna get when you buy used things like a washer and dryer. So, we are happy with our Costco purchase. However, it did not come with the dryer vent thing so we have to get that today before I can do any laundry - It has been 20 days! Yikes! We have a serious pile! I am so excited to have it though. We figured that we would have spent over $600.00 a year (plus time) at the Laundromat, so buying one is definitely worth it.

Well, that is all for now.

Lots of love!

Kary and Ray's new Place in the Valley . . .